The Purest Element
by Raven Anderson
Summary: When the ministry proposes a new law forcing muggle-born witches to marry, Dumbledore decides that it would be in her best interest to marry her potion's master. Can Hermione live being married to a man that's cold and unfeeling? Can Severus handle his duties as a spy and a protector? A marriage law fic. [[Rated M for later chapters]]
1. Chapter 1

_Hello everyone. This is my first ever fan fiction so please bear with me. I am not sure just how long this is going to be, but it may be quite long. I will try to remain faithful to canon but deviations will be made given the nature of this fic. _

_ This takes place during the summer of Hermione's sixth year making her of age. All characters belong to JK Rowling, I am just borrowing them._

_This story has not been edited/reviewed by a beta-reader so please forgive me. Constructive criticism and reviews of all kind are welcome. Updates will come as soon as possible. At the very least there will be one chapter published a week._

_The first chapter will be the shortest, please forgive the length. This is simply to establish the setting and time period._

**Chapter One: ****echoes up above**

Hermione was spending the rest of her summer at Grimmauld Place after the Order had thwarted an attack on her parents. Albus Dumbledore was one to take no chances so after careful deliberation he decided to send her parents away to a safe house. No one knew of this safe house other than Dumbledore himself and Kingsley Shacklebolt (who was put in charge of keeping watch of them). Hermione had begged the headmaster to know where he was keeping her parents, but the old man would not budge. He assured her that it was for her own good and that her parents were better off this way, which meant that Hermione was not in any position to argue with him. Her things were taken to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place immediately after the thwarted attack and her house was subsequently burned by a small group of Aurors who made sure that her things would leave no traces of the family's move.

The only thing she had to be thankful about was spending time in the presence of the Order. The only permanent resident other than herself was her former professor, Remus Lupin. The old werewolf had been more than happy to see Hermione and made sure that she was comfortable, often preparing a breakfast for the both of them in efforts to keep her stance on house elves in mind. Or so he told her anyway, in reality the werewolf hated Kreacher's constant snide comments and back talk. One could only take so many comments about mudbloods and half-breeds before taking serious offense. They had pleasant talks during breakfast before he would retreat to the library and she would make her way to the sitting room to study. On occasion her former professor would ask her about her early studying, arguing that it was much too early begin. She didn't even have her text books for sixth year yet! But knowing that was confined to the dwelling with nothing else to do he did not give her too hard of a time.

The meetings were the most exciting part of her days at Grimmauld Place, even though Dumbledore forbade her to stay during the order's meetings, she was allowed to speak to the other members before and after their meetings started. Tonks was always the happiest to see her and attacked her with a warm hug upon seeing her. She had been one of the Aurors to thwart the attack on her home and knew that Hermione had taken the attack quite hard. Kingsley simply greeted the young Gryffindor with a knowing and warm smile that meant that her parents were safe. Her professors said nothing to her through McGonagall would often give her a small smile. Then they would close the doors to the dining area and leave her alone, sometimes she would sit at the top of the stairs and try listening to their conversations, she never could hear anything though, as she expected they would have cast charms on the doors to keep her from listening in.

It was a late night meeting when things suddenly got a lot more interesting for Hermione Granger. She was sitting on the top of the stairs, curious as to why they didn't ward the door when they sent her up to her room. She hadn't even intended to disobey Dumbledore; a trip the bathroom had resulted in her being able to hear loud argument in the dining room. She could make out Kingsley's voice and Dumbledore's voice. Dumbledore never yelled, not like that. She craned her neck to peek over the railing and saw that the door was cracked open a bit. Before she had the sense to back away from the stairs and make herself scarce, the door was thrown violently open, slamming against the walls. Hermione gave a start and jumped up, her knuckles going white as she clamped her hands over the railing. The black, bottomless eyes of her potions professor met her own and she swallowed her eyes wide. His face was a mask of anger and bitterness, it looked as if he had swallowed a lemon and a vein stood out on the side of his neck. The man let out a snarl and stormed out of the hallway, slamming the door on his way out.

Hermione's heart beat rapidly as she stood, frozen on the spot. She had never seen her professor that livid. His eyes looked as if they could burn a hole through solid steel. She turned on her heel and ran to her room before she was caught by any other irate order members…..


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello everyone. This is my first ever fan fiction so please bear with me. I am not sure just how long this is going to be, but it may be quite long. I will try to remain faithful to canon but deviations will be made given the nature of this fic. _

_ This takes place during the summer of Hermione's sixth year making her of age. All characters belong to JK Rowling, I am just borrowing them._

**Chapter Two: My Blood Is Boiling **

Hermione noticed that her former defense professor seemed quieter than usual the next morning. He greeted her with a smile that she could only describe as sheepish and avoided her eyes throughout breakfast. He didn't even bat at an eye at Kreacher who greeted them with his usual malice. Hermione wondered exactly had happened last night at the order meeting.

She hadn't heard anyone's voice other than Dumbledore's and Kingsley's but it seemed like everyone had been upset. She had never seen everyone on edge like that before. But then again she had never spent an entire summer in Grimmauld Place before, for all she knew it could have been a common occurrence. They were in the middle of a war and war came with all sorts of problems, arguments were the least of them. It was a wonder three of her professors were even able to teach while trying to help run the order. It dawned on her that Dumbledore kept her away from the meetings for more reasons than her age. The burden of war was something that no one should have to bear. Even though she wished she could make Dumbledore see that she was capable of handling herself in the order, she knew she would have to back off.

She watched as the tired werewolf excused himself from the table and slunk off to the library as usual. His face looked more tired than it was before and he had cleared his throat a little louder than necessary. She bit her lip thoughtfully before rising to follow him to the duty, book filled room. **"Professor,"** her voice was low and slightly timid.

Lupin's head snapped up from the book he was reading. **"Yes, Hermione?"** He sounded a bit nervous. Hermione steeled herself for a letdown.

**"Sir, I was just wondering. About last night, things seemed….Erm, well. They didn't exactly seem friendly,"** her voice trailed off as she rose her eyes to meet the professor's.

**"You heard?"** Lupin could barely contain the surprise in his voice. The young witch nodded. **"Well, I couldn't make out anything exactly but I heard lots of shouting,"** and saw a murderous professor, but Lupin didn't need to know that she was sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

Lupin visibly relaxed and his fingers began playing with the edges of the pages that he was reading. His eyes danced about the words but it was obvious he wasn't focusing.

**"Is something wrong? Is Voldemort planning to strike?" **Suddenly a more sinister thought crept into her mind. What if her parents were in danger? Even worse, what if they were dead? She felt panic creep into her throat Her parents couldn't be dead, no way. The order could protect them right?

Lupin shook his head slightly. **"No, no. Everything's fi—um. Well, no plans of world domination quite yet," **he gave a small smile and Hermione couldn't help but smile back at his dry humor.

She thanked him and turned when Lupin piped up again**, "Dumbledore wanted to see you" **Hermione stopped, her hand on the doorknob and turned to face Lupin.

**"When?" **Her voice was laced with hopefulness but her eyes were nervous**. "Soon. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. It all depends on when Sn-" **The werewolf bit his tongue deciding it was best not to say anything more.

**"On what? What does it depend on, Professor? Does it have to do with Professor Snape? It DOES have to do with Voldemort doesn't it?" **Her mind began moving a mile a minute as she wondered why Snape had been so angry a few nights ago.

Lupin shook his head, more forcefully this time, and decided not to say anymore. **"Dumbledore will be here soon, don't worry we'll fill you in soon enough." **Hermione took note of the way her former professor's face flushed at his own statement and nodded before retreating to her room.

Hermione spent the rest of her day in her room studying her new textbooks. She was finally trying to work out what she wanted to do with her life when she graduated and looking over her transfiguration textbook she suddenly decided that might want to go into education. If the wizarding world could really be so dangerous than she would protect the students to the best of her ability while giving them the best weapon she could, knowledge. If she didn't her only other choice would have been healing. She wasn't a fighter like Harry and Ron, she didn't want to try and become an Auror. As much as she respected Mad Eye and Tonks they were impulsive and acted before thinking, she could not work in an environment like that. She truly wanted to help, not fight fire with even more fire. When Kreacher walked by her open door to announce that he would have dinner ready in no less than an hour she closed her textbooks and made her way to the bathroom.

Grimmauld Place was not graced with shampoos and conditioners when she first arrived. Lupin had told her that he and Sirius had washed their hair with a bar of soap since they were in school, they couldn't be bothered with trying to find nice smelling and over priced concoctions. Hair tonics and potions may have been more common in the wizarding world, but apparently men felt just as clean using regular body soap. She didn't doubt that but she didn't understanding how they could stand to dry out their hair like that. Her own hair was already impossible to manage. So Lupin had sent out for some nice lavender scented hair potions that not only smelled even more amazing than her normal hair product, but left it feeling much more manageable. She had never thanked Lupin for the improved condition of her hair, but there was no doubt that he noticed her constantly running her fingers through it.

Once she got out of the shower and started to towel herself off she heard voices. She couldn't make them out, but her heart began to pound faster as she desperately hoped it was Dumbledore and the order. She cursed to herself softly as she realized that she left her clothes in her room out of habit and wrapped a towel around herself. It would have to do for the moment. She slipped out of the bathroom as quietly as she could and made a mad dash for her room so that she could slip into some clothing. She almost decided to put her jeans back on, after all, could the headmaster take her seriously if she appeared in her pajamas, but it was evening and she didn't own anything salacious so she decided to slip on her cotton muggle football t-shirt and her silk bottoms. She did forgo the frog covered sleeping robe and stepped into her plain blue slippers.

She hadn't even made it halfway down the stair case when the headmaster's booming voice greeted her. **"Miss Granger! What a pleasure to see you as always," **she ducked to see the old wizard with his arms held out in a warm greeting.

**"Likewise Headmaster,"** she responded, her voice betraying the nervousness she felt in her stomach. His voice was nothing like the fierce shouting she heard several nights ago and there was not a hint of anger on his face. Her eyes slipped past him however, and noted that Severus Snape looked a little paler than usual and was staring intently on a spot on the rug. Her stomach sunk, knowing that her potion's professor never wore such a look on his face. There was something very wrong here if he wasn't greeting her with a sneer.

**"There's something that we must discuss with you, Kingsley should be here with us but he has some obligations he needs to handle tonight,"** the headmaster explained. The raven haired man next to him snorted, but his eyes did not leave the spot of carpet, that Hermione feared would catch fire under his gaze.

Lupin motioned for everyone to enter the dining room and he even pulled out a chair for Hermione which she accepted, before taking a seat next her, his body language uncharacteristically tense. Dumbledore crossed to the opposite side of the table and sat directly opposite of his young pupil while Professor Snape opted to stand with his back facing all of them. He was beginning to startle Hermione at this point. She had never seen Snape in such a reclusive state before. He usually commanded the attention of everyone in the room, now his head hanging low, hair masking his face made her worry. It was as if he was trying to make himself appear small, non threatening, as if he wanted to disappear. She felt her throat tighten.

**"Kingsley informed us of a new law that was rumored to come into play, several weeks ago," **Dumbledore began. Hermione leaned forward to listen to what Dumbledore had to say. **"He told us about it immediately so we were prepared for it in case there was any truth to the ridiculous rumor that was going around."** Lupin piped up for a moment, **"It really seemed like a horrible idea. None of us thought it was going to happen." **Dumbledore simply held up a hand to stop the old werewolf.

**"Last week Kingsley told us that the rumors were true and that the law was going to go into effect in two weeks, at the same time, Severus was called to a meeting by he-who-must-not-be-named,"** Hermione watched as the black clad back of her professor shivered. **"It would seem that he himself had his spies in the ministry put the law through in an effort to get to you, Hermione."**

The young witch blinked and opened her mouth to speak, **"To me? A law? Professor, what kind of law are you talking about?" **Surely he hadn't managed to finally ban muggle born witches and wizards! She shivered at the thought.

**"It would appear that the law forces muggle born witches to take the hand of a pure blood or half-blood wizard." **Before he could even finish, Hermione interjected. **"Only witches! How sexist! So we are to become trophy wives! That is absolutely absurd Headmaster, surely you-"**Dumbledore silenced her with a pointed look.

**"My dear, I'm afraid it gets much worse than that. Severus was informed that the dark lord does not intend to lose you at the hands of some common wizard. His men at the ministry are going to make sure that you can only marry one of his Death Eaters,"** he paused to allow Hermione a moment to look appalled **"there is no way that you will be able to marry a Weasley as Molly so kindly suggested, or anyone else for that matter." **

**"If I even were to consent to this ludicrous law who does he think I would marry? I hardly keep the company of Death Eaters! Aren't half of them married off anyway?" **Dumbledore nodded gently.

**"Originally he wanted you to marry Draco Malfoy, Lucius had some objections it seemed, and suggested that ****_he_**** put Severus to use and convince ****_me_**** that you marry ****_him_****." **Hermione's face contorted with anger.

**"Oh right, because I would marry my bloody potion's professor. You couldn't even allow such a thing could you? That's so incredibly stupid, not to mention selfish, of Lucius bloody Malfoy. Shouldn't he be able to sacrifice his son for a simple bleeding task like marriage?" **Dumbledore looked at her carefully over his half moon glasses.

**"You would rather marry ?" **Hermione's eyes widened.

**"No of course not, I'm not marrying anyone for crying out loud! I just think that it's ridiculous that Voldemort thinks Professor Snape can drop his professionalism and beg you to marry his student!" **The headmaster coughed uncomfortably and Professor Snape shifted slightly, a low and irritated noise coming from him.

**"Miss Granger, you do know that we have no choice. If you do not comply then your wand will be confiscated and you will be obliviated and sent to a muggle care facility, once the authorities realize that you are a young woman with no memory sense the age of ten and no family on record." **Dumbledore's tone was low but firm.

Hermione let out a breath of air and slumped backwards into her chair. **"Surely you haven't agreed to this crazy plan. There has to be some way out!" **Dumbledore's face was solemn as Lupin rose to grab the newspaper off of the stove. He handed it to Hermione. Her eyes scanned the page and saw that the Ministry had a big announcement coming soon. She let out a groan.

**"But…but…There can't…We can't…" **Hermione could not find any words to express how she felt. She was shocked and appalled on principle but one part of her was slightly confused. She had harbored a crush on her potion's professor since her first year but the man was made of stone, even if she liked him enough to agree to marry him there was no doubt that he would make her life a frozen hell.

**"Hermione, at some point the law will get reversed; once the war is won we can think about that. But for now we all have to make sacrifices. I know that this isn't exactly the greatest situation in the world, but there's nothing we can do for now. Please do not be too upset with myself or Severus, there's nothing we can do unless you want to be obliviated or killed." **Dumbledore reached across the table and grasped her hands in his own in an effort to show sympathy.

Professor Snape finally turned to face them, his hair falling away from his face as he snapped his head at her. **"Do not dare mentioning this to any of your friends. No one is to know about this. Molly has promised to keep it a secret from her children and if that old witch can bit her tongue than surely you will be able to fight your foolish impulse to open your mouth for once in your life." **His tone was dangerously low and Hermione felt a chill wash over her.

**"Of course,"** she almost sounded offended.

He titled his chin up slightly, in an effort to appear dignified. **"Word may get out eventually. Draco has been becoming more and more defiant of Lucius and myself. If word does get out, you will maintain some dignity about it. You will not acknowledge gossip and you will speak nothing of our personal life." **She nodded.

**"Legally you will be , in the classroom you are still Miss Granger, do not forget that. Any legal documents that you need to sign you will keep to yourself. I do not advise signing for anything in the great hall and I would recommend not letting your friends read mail over your shoulder,"** his voice was getting lower and lower as he spoke.

**"Your head of house is already making the proper alibis for your sudden housing change," **Hermione blinked. **"The ministry will be keeping close tabs on our marriage, if they see that you are not sleeping with me there will be legal ramifications Miss Granger." **She wanted to crawl under a very large rock at this point.

**"Can't, can't Voldemort you know…give us a pass because I'm a student?" **She was finding it quite hard to speak any louder than a mouse right now.

Professor Snape scoffed and shook his head. **"You are not a child, and it is my ****_job _****as a death eater to break you down. He expects us to become intimate on many different levels to get you to swear loyalty to me. He expects us to share a bed nightly, unless of course I am called away."** She wanted to give Voldemort a piece of her mind right about now.

Dumbledore let go of Hermione's hands and rose from the table. **"We must be going Severus, Miss Granger we will put through the proper paperwork. Once that is done Severus will take you to the ministry to be married. Once that is done you two will have to make living arrangements." **She could do nothing but nod at the headmaster as the two of them left.

Lupin coughed uncomfortably as the front door slammed shut and Hermione let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding…


	3. Chapter 3

THE PUREST ELEMENT

_Hello everyone. This is my first ever fan fiction so please bear with me. I am not sure just how long this is going to be, but it may be quite long. I will try to remain faithful to canon but deviations will be made given the nature of this fic. _

_ This takes place during the summer of Hermione's sixth year making her of age. All characters belong to JK Rowling, I am just barrowing them._

**This chapter is a bit slow, I was going to do one large chapter but I've not been writing as much lately as I would have liked. So this is to tide you guys over. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! I promise the next chapter will come faster. **

**PS: I'm looking for a Beta Reader/Editor to go over my chapters before I publish them and perhaps even give me feedback. Please message me if interested.**

Lupin opened his mouth to say something, to offer an apology, to show some sign of sympathy for Hermione but nothing came out. Her eyes were glassy and it looked as if she was struggling to breath. Before he could find any words the girl let out a loud sob. "How dare you!" Her voice was louder than she had intended it to come it but she didn't care at this point. She was furious.

Hermione stood up, her chair falling back to the floor with the force of her movement. She pointed her finger accusingly at her former professor, anger written all over her face.

"Hermione, please," she shook her head at him. "You knew! You all knew! And none of you thought to fill me in about this? Instead of asking me what I wanted you decided to marry off to some, some, death eater!" her voice was getting progressively louder as she spoke.

She had trusted them, all of them. She had even trusted Professor Snape despite the fact that he had been unbelievably rude to her since the day she first set foot in his dungeons. How could they sit there and decide something as important as her marital status without even asking her what she wanted? What she thought? Her own head of house among them? Hermione felt her chest tighten with emotion, everyone she had ever trusted all plotting against her. Using her for their own gain.

"There was no other choice," Lupin's voice was quiet as he addressed the angry witch. "Honestly, we all thought it best if we work out the details among ourselves. We weren't even sure if it was going to work out, there was the bit about Snape being able to successfully convince you-know-who that Dumbledore didn't suspect his 'true' motives, Kingsley wasn't even sure about the law until recently…" His voice trailed off as his eyes drifted to the table.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "So that was good enough reason to go behind my back? None of you had the decency to even think about calling me down and filling me in along the way?"

Lupin cleared his throat, "Well, Minerva and Nymphadora wanted to tell you." Hermione's eyes went wide.

"So why didn't they!"

"Well, Dumbledore thought we should work out the details first. He's not exactly a person that you want to argue with Hermione," his voice almost sounded as if that much should have been obvious.

Hermione resisted the urge to stomp her feet in frustration. "So you mean to tell me that Dumbledore just wanted to marry me off without a second thought? That he didn't care one ounce what I had to think about things?"

Lupin raised his eyes to meet hers, a curious look on his face. "Well, yes. Severus had the same concerns, considering Dumbledore has been telling him what to do for years now, but that is beside the point. He wouldn't listen to any of us. Do you know what happened to the last person who tried to go against Dumbledore's wishes?"

Hermione blinked as she tried to control her temper. She was taking it out a bit unfairly on Lupin but what else could she do? It took more than a few minutes for the reality of her situation to set in but by that point Dumbledore and Professor Snape had already left. "What, what happened?"

Lupin shuffled his feet for a moment. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. Hermione, you're not a child anymore and we will try not to treat you like one, but understand this…The Order, we have to place a lot of trust in Dumbledore, often blindly so. Even Severus has to act without full understanding of what's going on and he's a spy."

"So I am to be a pawn? A part of this ridiculous game of politics that Voldemort decided to start playing?" Lupin nodded. "Better politics than the front lines."

Hermione snorted a sound that her former professor wasn't used to hearing from the well spoken witch. She shook her head before turning on her heel to retreat to her rooms…..

Sleep did not come so easily that night. As Hermione huddled under her thick blankets she felt a torrent of emotions washing over her and she could not stop the sobs from coming. In a matter of minutes she was a wreck, her pillow was drenched and her body shook uncontrollably. She did not cry easily, it was a trait that she was proud of. Hermione Granger would much rather hold her head high in the face of adversity than succumb to tears. But this, this was too much. She had been stupid enough to leave her house after a fight wither her parents, they had been receiving a copy of the Daily Prophet all year and her return home had begun with a row. They had told her that she couldn't go to Hogwarts next year, that things were much too dangerous. She tried explaining that she couldn't just give up her life as a witch but they didn't care. They didn't want to hear any of it. She might have been an adult in the wizarding world but she was still a child back home. Needing time to think she had stormed out of the house, telling her parents she was going to the store for some orange juice.

Hermione instead went to the park down the street from her house. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize how much time had passed. It wasn't until she looked up from the worn out leather swing and saw Mad Eye Moody and Nymphadora Tonks standing in front of her. She had blinked, what where they doing there in all of their robed glory? They couldn't be spotted like that! They told her that she was in danger and apparated her along with them to head quarters. From there was told what happened and she didn't take it so well at first. Once the anger and shouting had died down she had retreated to the library to cry for a full two days. It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't had a row with them before it happened. In fact, if she never had a row with them she could have been there to help protect them. She could have defended them herself with magic. They didn't have to be sent away like that, not if she hadn't been so stupid.

Turning her face deeper into the damp pillow, she tried to control her breathing. She couldn't get too wrapped up in what had happened in the past. Instead she had to focus on her future. She really wished that professor McGonagall had let her keep her time turner after her third year. Instead she would have to think of a way to keep things from getting worse. That she could do, she would think of something. There was absolutely no way she was going to marry her potion's professor. If Dumbledore couldn't save her from that fate than she would simply have to save herself. Deciding that sleep was a lost cause for the night, she peeled back her covers, damp from the sweat generated by her elevated body heat, and summoned a quill and parchment. Thank god for small things like being of age, made life so much easier now that she could use magic whenever she wanted or needed to. Taking the quill in hand, she made her way to the small wooden desk and put the quill to the parchment. She would start a list. That's it! A list would her to sort things out and figure out what she was to do.

Her first list was going to be a list of pro's and cons. To marry her professor as the Order wished or not to marry her professor. She started with a list of reasons why she should not, in a matter of minutes the cons list was full of reasons why should not. He was vile for one thing, he was cold hearted, he was rude, he had insulted her intelligence on several occasions, he was her professor, if word got out it would become a scandal, she was much too young to settle down and get married, she was being forced to, she hated being discriminated against for her blood and gender. She stared at the list for a few minutes before taking a few deep breathes and starting on the pros list. She would be safe, she wouldn't be forced into awkward shows of affection, she wouldn't have to talk to him….She paused as she tried to think of other reasons why it was a good idea to marry him. She briefly considered jotting down: first hand potion's experience, but she wondered if he would dare let her touch any of his personal stores or even permit her to watch him brew privately. She sighed deeply and began to trace the quill around the paper, surely there had to be more reasons…After staring at the list for several minutes she bit her lip and turned the parchment over.

She wrote, Alternatives, at the top of this side and wrote, run away, right under the heading. At the present it was the only idea she could think of, but where would she run to? Surely the Order would find her. After realizing that the idea was a bit outrageous she wrote, refuse, under the previous idea. Now, they couldn't exactly force her to do anything could they? If she chose to stay at Grimmauld Place because she felt her life was in danger in leaving, because of a ridiculous new law, who were they to tell her no? It was her life after all. Hermione knew that she didn't really want to give up her education and miss seeing her friends. She honestly didn't know if Harry and Ron would be able to function without her. She was like the glue that held them together, she had been since first year. With a frustrated sigh Hermione set her quill down and gazed at the lists. Of course, she was going to have to go through with this. For now at least. The alternatives had nothing good coming from them other than a sense of righteousness, but where would that get her? Hermione stayed at that table, staring at the lists until she finally fell asleep…

Professor Lupin studiously avoided her the next several days. They ate their meals in silence and the werewolf would retreat to his own room or the library for the rest of the day. In the third day of waiting, Hermione received owl mail from Harry, Ron, and Ginny. She knew that Harry was staying at the Burrow, and she had told them that she was staying at Grimmauld Place. If she had it her way, she would have asked Harry first, as the place had been left to him, but she knew that he wouldn't have minded and she didn't exactly have much choice. She told them that things were going quite well and that she missed them, she told them that she was excited for the year to begin and that she couldn't wait to hear all of their stories about the summer. It was with a heavy heart that she sent the owl off, knowing that she actually dreaded the coming months for once in her life and that she was going to have to lie to her friends about a very large aspect of her life. But it was for the best wasn't it? They wouldn't exactly like hearing that their friend was married off to a "Greasy git" as the boys called him. They would probably make a scene about it and with their temper they would take it up with Dumbledore. The last thing she wanted or even needed was for them to make a scene about it. When it came right down to it, Hermione knew that even if her potion's professor didn't care if they knew, she would. And she would care so much that it was better to keep it private.

On the fourth day of waiting, Dumbledore finally showed up. He greeted Hermione and Lupin with a warm smile and told Hermione that she needed to start packing her things. In two days time Professor Snape would come to collect her and her things would be taken to Hogwarts. She would have the castle to explore at her leisure for a solid two weeks. There was a twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes as he told her that particular bit of news.

"There are things, , that you won't find in 'Hogwarts a History' you know," he said.

Though Lupin had offered him tea, Dumbledore left as quickly as he had come. Hermione was used to his brisk manner by now and simply watched his disappear down the hall. She returned to the wooden chair she was sitting in when the headmaster first appeared and played with a bit of dust. Lupin was hovering near the stove trying to decide if he wanted to brew himself tea.

"How bad do you think it will be," Hermione addressed the werewolf.

Startled, Lupin looked from her to the stove and back again. "I can't say for sure. Severus is…Well, he's an enigma. I don't think it will be sunshine and butterflies, but then again….." He let out a sigh. "He was friends with Harry's mum you know. She spoke highly of him when James would talk down on him. They had a falling out, but apparently Lilly still cared about Severus to some degree, if even sympathy, because she invited him to her wedding against James' better judgment."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at this. "He was friends with her mother? Interesting. Did he attend?" Lupin shook his head as he drew his wand from his pocket to prepare tea. "No…no, he didn't." Hermione nodded. "It doesn't seem like he got along with Harry's father at all." Her voice was thoughtful.

"No, he didn't. And to be honest, I'm not sure if I can blame him. His friendship with Lilly says something about him though. That woman had the best judgment in friends. She was almost never wrong about people," his voice was reminiscent.

Hermione raised and eyebrow at her former professor. "What about Peter Pettigrew?" Lupin shook his head. "Peter was our friend, not hers. She never cared much for Peter. She always said she didn't like his sense of humor." Hermione played with the edge of the table. So someone had cared about Snape, and Harry's mum couldn't have cared that much about a heartless Death Eater. Maybe he had some redeeming qualities somewhere. Or had them and lost them. Whatever Lilly saw in him when they were in school could have been long gone by now. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't bank on a dead woman's opinion.

"At the very least, Severus is a professional," Lupin said as if reading her mind. "There's nothing you should worry about. He may be a bit rude in class but I don't think he would make this any harder on you than it needs to be. Of course, he's bound to feel a little frigid, but I don't see him being completely horrible." His voice was confident and reassuring but she still had doubts.

"I hope you're right Professor. It's hard enough dealing with him in the classroom." Lupin gave her a sympathetic smile as drew two porcelain cups from the cupboard.


End file.
